


Red Hood: Gotham Outlaw

by TheMetalOverlord



Series: Tales of The Outlaws [1]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DC Elseworlds, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: AO3 exclusive story, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anti-Hero, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Barbara Gordon is Oracle, Batman References, Court of Owls, Crazy Harleen Quinzel, DC Comics References, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Empath Raven (DCU), F/M, Harleen Quinzel Being Harleen Quinzel, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Jayrae, Joker (DCU) Being Joker (DCU), Joker (DCU) Has Issues, Joker (DCU)'s Name is Jack, Raven (DCU)'s Name Is Rachel Roth, Red Hood and the Outlaws - Freeform, Red X Is Red Hood's Sidekick, Roy Harper is Arsenal, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Tags Are For The Entire Series, The Author Regrets Nothing, The League of Assassins (DCU), Tim Drake is Red Robin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:29:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28816383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMetalOverlord/pseuds/TheMetalOverlord
Summary: After learning that Bruce Wayne has been murdered by Joker upon his return to Gotham, Jason Todd takes on the mantle of the Red Hood. One part ruthless vigilante, one part kingpin, and all parts lethal, Red Hood takes Gotham's gangland by firestorm, trading blows with heroes and villains alike as he dispenses his own deadly brand of vengeance.However, things quickly become complicated when Jason finds himself developing feelings for a girl by the name of Rachel Roth,  a Metahuman empath who commands mastery of darkness and shadows... and just so happens to be the daughter of the Devil himself, Trigon, and is highly sought after by the occult organization known as the Church of Blood, led by none other than Sebastian Blood, upstanding and charismatic mayor of Star City.Can Jason hope to stop this sinister syndicate? And if so, can he do it alone, or will it take a band of Outlaws to save the world from ruination?
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Joker (DCU)/Harleen Quinzel, Rachel Roth/Jason Todd, Rachel Roth/Red Hood, Raven/Jason Todd, Raven/Red Hood, Tim Drake/Barbara Gordon
Series: Tales of The Outlaws [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2112753
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	1. The Man In The Red Mask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all, and welcome to my first DC Comics storyline. As you can plainly see, I am something of a big fan of the Red Hood/Jason Todd, and, well, I thought I'd experiment with my interest in the Red Hood a bit. First off, I think it goes without saying that this is very much an AU, or Elseworlds, as I understand the term to be called, set on Earth… let's go with Earth-95, so the bare minimum of knowledge is required. Also, I've spent some time coming up with a list of characters for good ol' Jason to cross paths and trade blows with, Tim Drake/Red Robin and Dick Grayson/Nightwing among them, as well as an OC or two. And this list is continually evolving, I might add. Also, I decided to have Jason pair up with Rachel Roth, better known as Raven from Teen Titans. Why? Because why not. This also means that Trigon and his minions will be involved at some point in the series as well, including Brother Blood and the Church of Blood. I also have plans for Jason to form his Outlaws team with Arsenal and Raven starting out, but I do have plans for characters like Godspeed to join up, effectively making my version of the Outlaws an anti-hero version of the Justice League.
> 
> In other words, I've taken a whole bunch of DC stories and thrown them into a blender for this one. Hence, why this is an experiment. But, I think I've gone on for long enough. Let's get this party started!

_ _

_ Chapter One _

_ The Man In The Red Mask _

A lone figure stood on a rooftop overlooking Gotham City. He wore a black leather jacket with red stripes on the sleeves and a red hood pulled up over his head, body armor that bore the image of a red bat or bird on the chest, black combat pants with a belt that carried customized dual handguns in their holsters, a knife in its sheath, a couple grapnel guns, along with a variety of pellets, grenades, and other weapons, black leather gloves, and black leather combat boots. Concealing his face was a metallic red helmet that made his eyes seem pure white, as well as disguised his voice.

_ My name is Jason Todd. Up until five years ago, I had been Robin, sidekick to the Batman himself. Until that is, I was killed, murdered by the Joker, only to be revived by Ra’s Al Ghul’s Lazarus Pit. In a blind rage, I escaped Ra’s compound and began to travel the world. During my travels, I trained long and hard to match the Batman in combat, and essentially become a better hero than he had ever been. I mastered marksmanship, swordplay, and nearly every kind of hand-to-hand combat imaginable and took up mercenary jobs that left me a very rich man. Rich enough to continue upgrading my weapons and keep my guns loaded, as well as pay for my expenses. Finally, I had deemed myself ready to return to Gotham City at last. _

_ And yet, nothing I had done would have prepared me for what I found when I returned to Gotham City. The city had gone even more to Hell than when Bruce Wayne and I had been defending it. Speaking of Bruce Wayne, it turns out he and his butler, Alfred, had been murdered by the Joker themselves, thus fueling my desire for revenge against that twisted son of a bitch. _

_ It became increasingly apparent that there was a lesson to be learned from the Batman’s death, however. His so-called “one rule” that had defined his actions when taking down the scumbags who ruled Gotham had come back to bite him. That’s the thing about crime-fighting that the Batman never really understood. You can’t just stop crime. No, no, no, you have to control it. Master it. The Batman wanted to rule the city by fear, but what was he supposed to do with the ones who aren’t afraid? The ones like The Penguin, Scarecrow, Two-Face, and The Joker. And now that I’ve returned to Gotham, I’ll do what Batman refused to do. Say what he couldn’t. And I’ll succeed where he failed. _

_ I am the Red Hood. And this is my story. _

  
  


_ Gotham City-11:34 PM _

Two women, one stumbling slightly, the other walking with a certain degree of grace as they walked down the streets of Gotham City from the  _ My Alibi _ nightclub. Both of them had been hoping to meet someone, but had no such luck.

“Tasha, you know  _ that  _ much alcohol in someone’s system can  _ kill _ , yes?” The more graceful of the two spoke up, a light accent permeating her speech. She brushed a few stray brunette bangs from her forehead. The black dress clung to her like a second skin.

“T-Talie, y-you knouu I like livinnh on tha edge…” The inebriated woman giggled out, looking at her companion through her spiky black hair. She wore not a dress, but jacket and pants, which were white with hints of blue and purple. A certain degree of infemininity could be gleaned.

“I think a big part of that is ‘living’.”   
  


“Talie”, or Natalie as her proper name was, chuckled as she looked to the sky. The moon had risen while the two women were in a club. A few scattered clouds, light breeze, not too chilly. A good night.

“Hey, Talie, you knou thish guy followinh ussh?”

Natalie cast a quick glance behind her. A man behind the two was toying with a cigarette. His pale skin was a stark contrast from his black jacket. The jacket’s hood was upon his head, but a few strands of cyan-ish hair stuck out beyond its placement.

Something about the man unsettled Natalie. Perhaps it was merely a sense of paranoia on her part, but Natalie nonetheless grabbed Natasha’s hand and increased pace. She made an effort not to walk too fast, but nerves fought with her critical thought.

_ Everything’s fine. Everything’s fine, Natalie. _

Glancing over her shoulder again, Natalie saw that the man was keeping up with them, and that he had four friends joining him in the chase.

_ Everything’s NOT fine. _

“Talie, was goin’ non,” slurred Natasha in both drunkenness and confusion as Natalie sped up to a noticeable degree.

“Tasha, don’t panic, but I think we’re being followed.” Natalie noted the panic seeping into her voice. Natalie heard footfalls behind her. She thought things like this were a myth, that they only happened in movies. Then again, this was Gotham City.

Perhaps against her better judgement, Natalie pulled Natasha into a dark alleyway, following it to a hypothetical safety. Four more men blocked their path.

“Ladies!”

Natalie turned. The man with the hooded jacket stood surrounded by his fellows. Natalie noticed that he had a switchblade in his hand, which made her tighten her grip on Natasha’s hand, “I-I don’t want any trouble. So, if y-you could just-”

The man smiled, “Sweetie, I don’t  _ want _ any trouble. I mean, I mean, boys, have I ever gone out seeking trouble before?”

The men murmured various negations, aside from a single individual, “I mean, not unless they try anything. Then you do somethin’.”

As Natasha snickered, the man with the hood punched the man who spoke in the chest, causing him to double over in pain. 

“Kevin, what have we told you about facade?”

Kevin coughed and made an exaggerated scowl, “I get you, Booker .”

The man made a noise of disbelief, “And what did I say about anonym-Fine, whatever, I’ll deal with you later. Now then, ladies,” Booker said as he forced a smile, “it’s like they said. I’m not unreasonable, I’m not violent. I’m just in a bad place in life.”

Natalie tightened her grip on Natasha’s hand. Natasha chuckled drunkenly, “Well, that’s not good.”

Booker clapped his hands together, “See? She gets it! I’d like to get out of this bad place, but poverty is a pretty… _ constricting  _ force. So, since you two seem so nice, I’m assuming that you’d want to help us out. A donation, perhaps?”

“D-donation?” Natalie recoiled slightly.

“Give us your money!” Kevin shouted out. A smack sent him into silence.

“As my…” Booker cast Kevin a look, “ _ partner _ … said, we need you to hand over all of your money right now-”

Before the thug could finish his sentence, however, a gunshot rang out through the alleyway as a bullet pierced through Booker’s heart, causing a patch of blood to appear on his chest as he crumbled to the ground, dead as a doornail.

Everyone in the alleyway looked up in the direction the gunshot had come from, and saw what appeared to be a young man wearing a metallic red mask and some kind of biker’s outfit and carried weapons that wouldn’t look out of place on a soldier, or a mercenary.

Kevin scoffed, apparently unafraid of this apparently new hero who had just appeared, despite the fact that his friend was lying dead on the ground as the figure landed in front of the two women. “And just who the Hell are you supposed to be?”

_ “Call me the Red Hood. And I suggest you scumbags start running like Hell, or else you’ll be headed for an early grave like your friend there,” _ said the so-called Red Hood, as he drew his second handgun and aimed them both at the group of thugs.

Kevin chuckled and pulled his own switchblade. “I don’t think so. Leave enough of them to be identified, then take whatever they have on them,” he said.

Red Hood gave a dark chuckle as the gangbangers drew their weapons and advanced towards the women and himself. _ “You know, I thought that we could settle things the smart way, but I guess the fun way works just as well,”  _ he said, before he drew some kind of grapnel gun and fired it at Kevin. The grapnel latched onto Kevin’s chest and pulled Red Hood to him. Red Hood then kicked Kevin in the chest as hard as he could, sending the thug flying into a parked car, and rendering him unconscious.

One of the other thugs tried to bum rush the Red Hood, but without so much as a change of expression, not that anyone could have said for certain, Red Hood put a bullet between the thug’s eyes.

As the fight continued, and more of the thugs were murdered in cold blood, Natalie could only stare in shock. Natasha was beginning to sober, if only by a margin, “Talie whass happenin’? Who’sss that?”   
  


Natalie grabbed Natasha’s hand and began to step back, something that Red Hood couldn’t help but notice.

_ “Good idea! Run while you’ve got the chance! Would want you getting caught in the-OOOF!”  _ yelled Red Hood before another thug hit him in the back of the head with a steel baseball bat, causing him to his knees, coughing.

_ “Y-you know, don’t hit the prisoner in the head. Gets them all dizzy, can’t feel anything else…” _ _  
  
_

The bat swung towards his head again, but Red Hood’s arm shot out and grabbed it in midair. Red Hood then pulled the bat out of the man’s hand and began to viciously beat him so fast and so viciously that his actions merely looked like a blur. Red Hood continued beating the poor man even after he’d stopped moving.   
  


Kevin picked himself up from the ground, and saw the two women staring in shock as Red Hood continued whaling on his comrade. Pulling himself off the ground, Kevin growled, “You bitch!” before he ran at Natalie, who started to run off. Kevin tried to grab at her, but caught the hood of Natasha’s jacket instead.   
  


“Tasha!” Natalie cried out.   
  


“Freak! Get off Carlos now, or this little one gets it!” Kevin snarled as he pulled Natasha into a choke hold, placing a knife at her throat.   
  


Red Hood stood up and tossed aside the dented and bloodied remains of the baseball bat.  _ ”Not entirely sure that’s gonna help him now,”  _ he said moving aside to reveal the bloodied mess that was once a human being.   
  


“You animal!” roared Kevin in anger and pain.   
  


_ “You’re one to talk, trying to mug people on the streets like you do,”  _ said Red Hood.  _ “And those so-called cops who are supposed to uphold the law are no better. I’ve been in town long enough to know how they operate. To them, the oath they swore to uphold the law is nothing more than a joke, all they care about is money and protection, rather than the greater good. This city doesn’t need scum like you or the cops.” _

“What the Hell do you mean?!” Kevin yelled as he pressed the knife harder against Natasha’s throat, a thin line of red beginning to trail down.   
  


_ “You don’t stand for anything…” _ Red Hood said, discreetly pulling back the hammer for one of his guns. _ “You’re like little animals just surviving. You aren’t living!” _ _  
  
_

“Don’t get any closer! I’ll kill her, I swear to God!” Kevin cried out.   
  


_ ”Swear to me!”  _ snarled Red Hood, raising his gun as he continued to approach.  _ “You see, unlike you, I stand for something. I believe in something. I believe that this city needs someone who’s willing to take a life in order to ensure true peace and justice. That this city needs a true hero, one who can’t be bought, bullied, or negotiated with.” _

Faster than the blink of an eye, Red Hood fired his gun, placing a bullet directly in between Kevin’s eyes, causing the thug to fall to the ground, dead as a doornail.

_ “It needs someone like me,” _ said Red Hood, lowering his gun and placing it back in its holster.

With Kevin dead, Red Hood turned his attention to the victims of his victims. Natalie was holding a hand tightly to Natasha’s neck, trying in vain to stop the river-like flow of blood. The knife that Kevin had used to keep Natasha prisoner was lying on the ground beside her.

_ “Move over, let me see what I can-,” _ Red Hood said before he was cut off by Natalie violently shaking her head, cradling Natasha in her arms.

_ “Look, lady, if I wanted to hurt either of you, you’d be dead where you stand. Now, let me have a look," _ Red Hood all but commanded.

Reluctantly, Natalie moved aside as Red Hood took a look at Natasha’s injuries. He let out a hiss as he examined the damage.

_ “Well, that’s not good,” _ muttered Red Hood.

“What do you mean?” Natalie asked, a hint of panic in her voice, “Is it fatal?”

_ “Not by the looks of it, but… her vocal chords seem to be severely damaged. She wasn’t using her voice for her career, or anything along those lines, was she?” _ asked Red Hood.

Natalie shook her head violently as tears ran down her face.

_ “Well, that’s good to hear,” _ said Red Hood. The very next second, a police siren rang out, growing louder with each passing second.  _ “That’s my cue to exit. See you around, toots.” _

With that, Red Hood pulled out one of his grapnel guns and took to the rooftops, vaulting over small alleyways and using his grapnel gun when he needed to in order to cross wider gaps, until finally, he reached the alleyway where he’d left his custom-made motorcycle. Swinging his leg up over it, Red Hood fired up the engine and took off through the Gotham City streets, heading towards the abandoned site of the Panessa Movie Studios, where he’d set up shop, weaving in and out of traffic as he did so.

_ A Short While Later... _

Red Hood pulled up to the concealed entrance leading into what had once been a Bat Bunker back when Batman was still alive. Now, however, it served as Red Hood’s hideout and weapons cache. Red Hood pulled up to the door and simply said  _ ”Open Sesame.” _

_ “Voice pattern confirmed. Welcome, Red Hood,” _ said the smooth female voice of the Batcomputer. Red Hood heaved a sigh. The reason he had set up shop here instead of the Batcave was because it would’ve been far easier to break in here and reprogram the Batcomputer as opposed to the highly-secure and defended Batcave. Plus, he didn’t think the new owners of Wayne Mansion would appreciate a stranger breaking into their home to use the secret lair hidden underground. So, until he had time and means to break into Wayne Manor and sneak into the Batcave to loot it, he would have to settle for this dingy little hideout.

As the secret entrance opened, Red Hood pulled his bike into the garage and turned off the ignition before making his way into the main hub area of his hideout.

In the far corner of the base was a lumpy mattress with no sheets and only a threadbare blanket, while several stacks of large crates filled to the brim AK-47s, couple grenade launchers, every type of grenade imaginable, C4, and materials he needed to create his custom-made bullets.

_ Titanium composite hollow point bullets with a C4 kicker. Fastest, most explosive ammo in the world, _ thought Red Hood as he pressed a button on his mask, allowing the pressure hatches to open so that he could remove it, followed swiftly by the domino mask underneath. 

Jason Todd looked to be around the age of twenty-one with short black hair with a patch of white in it and bright blue eyes. He tossed both his masks into a corner and flopped down on the mattress, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath. Tonight, the Red Hood had announced his presence to the world, and those two women, well the uninjured one anyway, as well as the others he’d saved from muggers, purse snatchers, would-be rapists, and other pieces of garbage, had been witness to his big debut. All that remained now was to start claiming himself some land, and begin to take control of this city and take control of its criminal elements.

_ That’s what Bruce never understood. You can’t stop crime. All you can really do is control it, kill the idiots who get out of line, and put the fear of God into those who are unafraid, _ thought Jason as he began to breathe deeply.  _ The criminal scumbags of this city may no longer fear the Bat, but, with time, it’ll be me they fear. _

The Legend of the Batman had come to an end. Now, it was time for the Legend of the Red Hood to begin…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so it begins! If you folks like what you see here, why not give this little project kudos, bookmark, and comment?


	2. Making Some Moves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, all, and welcome back to Red Hood: Gotham Outlaw! Last chapter did pretty well for itself, and that makes me all the more excited to keep things a-rolling. Also, after giving the matter a little bit of thought, I decided to up this story's rating to M for Mature, as that would allow me greater creative freedoms with the kind of anti-heroic vigilante/kingpin hybrid character that Red Hood is. I mean, the guy decapitated a bunch of people in two hours flat. Well, I don't really have much else to talk about, so why waste time talking?

_ Chapter Two _

_ Making Some Moves _

There weren’t a whole lot of people on the train heading from Keystone to Gotham City, mainly because you’d have to have some kind of death wish if you wanted to go there, especially following the disappearance of the vigilante known as The Batman, who many now suspected to be the deceased playboy billionaire, Bruce Wayne, mainly because the vigilante had disappeared after Bruce Wayne was murdered by The Joker. No longer needing to fear the Bat, scum, criminals, and worse had been running wild through the city, despite the efforts of a new vigilante called Red Robin, who had clearly been Robin at the time of Batman’s death, to reign them in, even with occasional help from the Bludhaven vigilante Nightwing. These days, only those desperate to get away from whatever trouble they were already in or those with nowhere else to go traveled to the vile criminal breeding ground that was the nation’s greatest city many, many years ago. Or so they said, anyway.

One such person was Rachel Roth. She was a young woman of 21 who had dark purple hair, skin so pale she appeared almost gray, and purple eyes. She wore a black tank top, a faded blue denim jacket, tight faded blue jeans that seemed to enhance her slender figure, and black-and-white tennis shoes. She had been attending college when an army of soldiers who could only be metahumans, albeit ones with almost the exact same powers of superhuman strength and endurance, invaded her campus, led by a man wearing a dark coat and a demonic skull mask who called himself Blood. Judging from what he’d said to her and the way he looked at her, this Blood character had something dark planned for her, more than likely involving her father being freed.

Truth was, Rachel wasn’t a normal person. In fact, she wasn’t even pure human. She was the daughter of Trigon, who was in fact the Devil himself. As a result, she constantly had to keep her emotions in check, as the stronger she felt “dark” emotions, such as Rage, Fear, and the like, the less she controlled her dark powers and the more her powers controlled her, possibly causing her to release her father and doom the entire world to oblivion.

Although she’d managed to keep her emotions in check enough to escape Blood and his forces, Rachel knew they would hunt her down like a dog. So, she had no choice but to disappear amongst a sea of others who had darkness of a different sort within them in the hopes that this pseudo-darkness would mask her presence long enough that she could find a way to leave the country and drop off the grid completely. And that place just so happened to be Gotham City.

As her train pulled into the station, Rachel rounded up her belongings, such as the large duffle bag she’d brought with her, and made her way onto the platform. As she made her way through the station and out into the city streets, Rachel heard a loud rumble from overhead. Not even a minute later, rain came pouring down as people in the streets ran for cover from the approaching storm. Rachel pulled her jacket up over her head and ran through the streets, looking for a hotel or some other form of shelter. However, as she did so, she caught the eye of no more than four gangbangers, who, needless to say, were attracted to Rachel like moths to the flame.

Rachel saw her pursuers before she heard them call after her, asking her where she was going and asking her to wait up for them. Rachel, trying desperately to control her fear and panic so as not to allow her powers to consume her, ran as fast as she could to avoid her pursuers, and yet they were still able to keep up with her. Before long, Rachel was cornered in a darkened side street by the gangsters, who were now barking and making smooching noises at her as they viciously manhandled her.

“Aw, what’s the matter, baby? We just want to play!” one of the gangsters said.

“What, we scare you or somethin’? Huh? Is that it?” said a second.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s what the problem is here, scumbags. Now, if you’re looking for someone to play with…”

The thugs turned around to find that a young man around the same age as Rachel with short black hair with a white patch in it and bright blue eyes wearing a red zip-up hoodie with a white t-shirt underneath, blue jeans held up with a thick leather belt, and black leather boots, was walking up to them, a stone-cold look on his face.

“...why not give me a try?” said Jason Todd.

“What, you think you’re some kinda hero? Just turn around and get the hell outta here,” said one of the thugs.

Jason made an expression that seemed to suggest that he was thinking about it. “You know, now that you mention it…” he said before doing a roundhouse kick on the thug who just spoke, causing him to stumble and allowing Jason to send his elbow crashing down onto his collarbone, more than likely shattering it like glass and sending the thug into shock.

“...how about I just kick your asses instead?”

“Get him!” yelled one of the three remaining thugs as they gave Rachel a rough shove to the ground and began to come at Jason. One of the thugs threw a punch at Jason, only for him to grab his attacker's arm and break it with only a simple twist before following up with an elbow to the side of the head, knocking him out cold.

The second thug grabbed a conveniently-placed steel pipe and tried to swing it at Jason, only to have it used to break not only his arm but his leg as well, before Jason slammed the pipe as hard as he could against the thug’s skull, knocking him out cold and fracturing his skull.

As for the third thug, after seeing how badly his comrades had been beaten, decided to do the smart thing, and turned around and started running for the hills.

“Hmph,” said Jason before he returned his attention to the girl the scumbags were trying to have their way with. “You okay?” he asked her, holding out his hand to help her up.

“I-I’m fine,” she said as Jason helped pull her up off the ground. “Who are you?”

“Name’s Jason Todd. What’s yours?”

“Rachel. Rachel Roth.”

“Rachel…” said Jason as he eyed the duffle bag, now open with some of its contents starting to fall out. “You new here in Gotham, Rachel?”

“Yeah, I’m just looking for a place to lay low for awhile until I can go somewhere far away from here,” said Rachel.

“Well, I'm pretty sure you’re not going to find what you’re looking for in Gotham, vile breeding ground that this city has become in the absence of Batman,” said Jason. “Why are you running, exactly? Some kinda local trouble?”

“Yeah… you could say that,” said Rachel, thinking back to Blood and his soldiers.

Jason could tell there was more to what had happened to this young woman than what she was letting on, but he decided to let it be for now. Besides, it was almost time to start making his move. “Well… I’ll see you around, hopefully. Nice to meet you, Rachel,” Jason said before he took off running into the rain, leaving Rachel staring after him.

_ Later That Evening... _

Jason, clad in his Red Hood uniform sans masks, was looking over the notes and lists that he’d prepared earlier that day, each of them relating to some drug dealer, shady club owner, dirty cop, or some other criminal that he intended to “persuade” to work for him.

_ If I’m going to take control of this shithole’s criminal element, I’m going to have to establish myself as a crime lord first, _ thought Jason as he looked over his notes, trying to decide which ones to enlist first, how best to get them to meet up with him, and how to convince them to kick in with him. He’d need to provide evidence that he could easily protect them from Black Mask and any other vigilante who had cropped up in Bruce’s absence. After the better part of thirty minutes, Jason had devised a plan that would more than persuade these drug-peddling scumbags to sign on with him.

_ All it’ll take is a little demonstration and a fair warning, _ thought Jason as he put on his domino mask, followed swiftly by his helmet, and loaded his guns.

_ Later That Night... _

Red Hood lurked in the shadows, just out of range of the security guards that were placed all around the large home of one of the lieutenants of one of the drug dealers he was planning on enlisting under his banner, and began to carefully plan his approach.

_ Two sharpshooters on the roof, and a whole lot of guys around the perimeter, each armed with machine guns, and probably even more inside. Piece of cake, _ thought Red Hood as he began his assault on the house.

As one of the guards was making his check-in, Red Hood snuck up behind the guard and slit his throat with his knife.  _ “Surprise,” _ muttered Red Hood as he moved on and snuck up behind another guard, snapping this one’s neck.

_ “Excuse me, scumbag,” _ muttered Red Hood as he moved on to the next guard and slammed the butt of one of his pistols against his jugular, before moving onto the next. It wasn’t long before all the perimeter guards were dead.

_ “Wrong place, wrong time,” _ said Red Hood as the last guard’s body fell to the ground. Red Hood then grapnelled onto the roof to deal with the sharpshooters. All it took to end them was a couple of bullets directly to the head.

_ “It’s all personal. Very personal,” _ said Red Hood as the last of the sharpshooter’s bodies fell off the roof. Red Hood then made his way back to the edge of the roof and dangled off it.

_ And now, the real fun begins, _ thought Red Hood as he swung himself through the window directly in front of him, taking the guards inside the room by surprise, before rolling on the floor before coming back up with both his handguns ready to open fire.

“What the Hell?! Kill him!” yelled one of the guards, before Red Hood put a bullet between his eyes, followed swiftly by the other guards in the room.

Red Hood fought his way through the complex, gunning down every guard who so much as pointed their gun in his direction. Before long, he’d cornered the guy he was after in the vast and spacious living room.

“Whoa! Whoa, easy!” said the man, who had short black hair and wore a white t-shirt and boxers. “Just tell me what you want, and I can give it to you!”

Red Hood aimed one of his handguns directly at the man with one hand and fished around in his pockets with the other, before tossing what seemed to be a list of some kind at the man he was targeting.

_ “If you want to give me anything I want, then you’ll make calls to certain people on that list, and tell them that your boss has called them to a meeting in the abandoned Soder Cola warehouse in the Kingston District this Friday at 10:00, sharp,” _ said Red Hood.

“And that’s it?”

_ “That’s about it. Now, I suggest you get to it. Go on, move it!” _

As Red Hood forced his captive to move along, he caught sight of a pair of twin-bladed katanas inside a glass case.

_ Hmm… nice swords, _ thought Red Hood before he smashed the case and grabbed the katanas.

_ The Following Friday- 10:00 PM-Miagani Island- Abandoned Soder Cola Warehouse _

A group of drug dealers were gathered in a warehouse in the middle of Gotham, sitting in a circle around a table, apparently having been summoned.

Only thing was, nobody seemed to know who summoned them.

“The Hell you say. You didn’t have your guy set up this meet? Then whose party is this?” asked one of the dealers present.

“I thought it was you East Side losers. You already rolled over for Black Mask and I figured you were gonna ask us in,” said another dealer.

“Rolled over? The Mask whacked seven of my crew in a week. Seven!” said a third dealer, slamming his fist on the table. “Some of my best people.”

“So, did you set up this meet?” asked the first thug.

All eight of the criminals kept arguing, pointing fingers, and accusing one another until one of them got frustrated and stood up to leave.

“Oh, to Hell with this. I’m outta here. If you brain donors want to hang around-”

_ "Sit down, Freddy. I'm the one who called the meeting." _ __  
  


The criminals all looked up and saw a dark figure lurking in the shadows on the balcony overhead, and instinctively pulled out their guns and took aim at the figure, ready to bust a cap in his ass.

“Is that Nightwing?” asked one of the criminals.

“Maybe it’s that Red Robin guy,” suggested another.

The shadowy figure quickly pulled out an AK-47 and fired at the table, causing the other thugs to dive out of the line of fire in fright.

_ "Okay, first off, do I look like Nightwing to you?" _ the figure said as he stepped out of the shadows and leaned on the railing of the balcony. He wore a black leather jacket with red stripes on the sleeves and a red hood pulled up over his head, body armor the bore the image of a red bat or bird on the chest, black combat pants with a belt that carried dual handguns in their holsters, a knife in its sheath, a couple grapnel guns, along with a variety of pellets, grenades, and other weapons, black leather gloves, and black leather combat boots. Concealing his face was a metallic red helmet that made his eyes seem pure white, as well as disguised his voice.  _ "Secondly, unless you want a bullet in your skull, don't lie to me. I know about every single crime each and every one of you committed while under Black Mask's shadow. And third, I believe I said ‘sit down.’” _

“You wanna die? There’s easier ways to kill yourself!” yelled one of the drug dealers below.

Red Hood chuckled humorlessly.  _ “You’re right. I could yell at the guy holding the AK-47. Listen up, you drug-peddling scumbags. As of this moment, I will be running the drug trade in Gotham City from now on, and you, the eight most prosperous street dealers in this city, will be working for me.” _

“I don’t think you get it. We pay up to the Black Mask, and if he gets wind of-” said one of the dealers, causing Red Hood to chuckle once again.

_ “Ah, yes, the Black Mask. Roman’s organization is finished, a dying empire. Here’s the deal, morons. You go about your business as usual, but you’ll kick up forty percent to me. I’d like to think that’s a much sweeter deal than the scraps Black Mask is leaving you with. In return, you will have total protection from Black Mask, Nightwing, and any other vigilante who thinks they’re tough enough to fill Batman's boots. However, you WILL stay far away from kids and schoolyards. No wheeling and dealing to children, got it? If I catch you dealing to some punk kid…” _ said Red Hood as he cocked his machine gun again.  _ “...you will die. It's not a matter of if, but of when and how painful I decide to make it." _

“Okay, crazy man, this is all very generous, but why the Hell should we listen to you?” asked Freddy.

_ “Hmm… you know, Freddy, that’s a fair question," _ Red Hood said thoughtfully.  _ "Here’s my answer.” _

Red Hood then threw a blood-stained duffle bag onto the table. Swallowing nervously, one of the dealers opened the duffle bag, only to start puking his lungs out from the strong smell of rotting flesh.

“Damn,” said another dealer, fighting the urge to start vomiting himself.

_ “Those are the heads of all your lieutenants. That took me about two hours. Care to see what I can do in a whole evening?” _ said Red Hood, aiming his rifle at the drug dealers again.  _ “Make no mistake. I’m not asking you to kick in with me. I’m telling you.” _

Red Hood then opened fire on the gathered drug dealers once again, some of whom got splattered with blood from the severed heads in the duffle bag. When the gunfire stopped, the drug dealers chanced a look at the balcony.

The Red Hood was gone. He’d disappeared like a ghost.

“I don’t know about you guys… but forty percent works for me,” said Freddy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus concludes Chapter Two! Hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I did making it. In any case, if you liked what you saw here, then be sure to kudos, bookmark, comment, and join us next time as Red Robin and Nightwing make their debut in this series, and one of my villains makes their debut. Which villain is it? Shhhhhhhh... it's a secret. Hint hint, nudge nudge.


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